After a successful indoor season, the Watkins Mill track team sought to test the weather as they competed in their opening meet against the Poolesville Falcons and the Quince Orchard Cougars on March 23 at Quince Orchard High School.

The Wolverines started off the season very well. A Watkins mill student appeared in the top ten for most of the events. Overall, the team fought hard in order start the season off strong. Both the boys and the girls performed well. Two standouts, senior Schezarone Carter and junior Rhoda Miller did not hold back as they were first in the 100 meter race.

Carter ran an outstanding time of 10.6 second in the 100 meter race. This is the fastest time he has ran in that event. “I felt really good because I was fresh from training,” Carter said. “I was shocked, and my coach was pretty shocked too.”

Dashing through the competition, the Wolverines visited the well known Seneca Valley Screamin’ Eagles for an invitational meet on April 2. On arrival, our team met some bad weather. Senior captain Gedeon Elenga said the boys “had a couple downfalls because of [illness], but we came back strong.” He had no trouble as he got the best time for the boys in the 200 meter race. The boys relay team for the 4×400 came in ninth overall. The girls relay team held their own placing fifth in the 4×100 and third overall in the 4×200.

Three days later, our ‘Rines track team competed at home against the Seneca Valley and Damascus high schools on April 5. Although there was short time to recover from the last meet, the team did not allow that to keep them from succeeding. Miller was at the top of the races finishing in second on all of her events. All three relays (4x400meter, 4x200meter, and 4x100meter) for the boys came in first. The girls came in first for both the 4×200 meter and 4×100 meter races.

The Wolverines had  days in preparation to revisit Quince Orchard on April 9, and according to their performance, that limited time did not stop them. The boys 4x200m relay team high stepped their way into first place, and the girls were right behind them placing in third. Elenga said that despite the weather conditions, “All of the relay teams did very well.”

On April 12, the track team made a visit to Germantown as they competed against the Northwest High School Jaguars on a warm day. This meet was a sort of preparation for the Jim Vollmer invitational, but the team did not take it lightly. Senior Alyssa Rishell finished in second place for the 800 meter race. “I just do what coach says, warm up, cool down, and do everything I need to do,” Rishell said. Unfortunately, the amazing relay teams came up short to Northwest.

After striding with the remembrance of coach Jim Vollmer who passed away in May 2014, the Wolverines fought through the Jim Vollmer Invitational meet at home. The team does not look to curl up and hide. They are still going for the gold, and will be competing in a meet against the Clarksburg Coyotes today.